Underground is a 2016 Romance Novel written by Cecilia Johanna.
Robyn Monroe lives in Chrystal Valley, a city notorious for its street fighting ring. By day, she tries to follow her dreams of leading a peaceful life and becoming a world class ballerina, but by night, she is the Valkyrie, a street fighter notorious for her elegant style and will to never tap out.
But fighting isn't a bloodless sport, and Robyn ends up in Chrystal Valley's emergency room where first-year resident Dr. Andrew Alexander takes it upon himself to bring her out of her half-dead state. His compassion for the poor young woman soon bleeds with attraction, and Andrew finds himself at war with his emotions as well as being drawn in to Chrystal Valley's seedy underground.
Robyn knows she can't stop fighting, not unless something major shifts in the city. Andrew knows if she doesn't stop fighting, she'll become just one more casualty of the city.
Has nothing to do with the WGN series or the 1995 Serbian film of the same name.
This novel provides examples of:
- Above the Influence: While trying to get her out of a bar, Andrew and Robyn end up making out. Robyn, being extremely drunk, wants to go further, but Andrew stops them before things get too heated, noting that he won't take advantage of her drunken state.
- Abuse Mistake: The number of injuries and the various states of healing they are in, combined with Robyn's terrible excuses lead Dr. Alexander to believe she is being abused. It's only after realizing some of her injuries aren't defensive and Robyn telling him "you should see the other guy" that he realizes she's probably not being abused and is actually a street fighter. Turns out she is being abused by her bookie, but those injuries are usually disguised by the ones she gets in her fights.
- Alliterative Name: Andrew Alexander.
- Almost Kiss: Andrew has Robyn pinned against the wall, both of them staring at each other's lips, when Mike's motorcycle starts up and shocks them out of the moment.
- Asleep for Days: Robyn's initial ER visit ended with her asleep for two days due to septic shock.
- Bad Boss: Swanson is reviled by the fighters that work under him, as he regularly sends his other lackeys to beat up or even kill anyone who steps out of line.
- Bad Liar: Robyn is called out as being horrible at lying by every single person she tries to lie to. She's aware she's bad at it too, but that doesn't stop her from trying.
- Bar Brawl: Jason starts a fight at the underground bar as a distraction so Andrew can sneak backstage.
- Bluff Worked Too Well: Andrew's lie to get backstage is the he's on the medical team. Then someone from the actual medical team who heard about him grabs him and he gets put on the medical team. Only Mark doesn't believe his bluff.
- Caps Lock: Jason's text to Andrew that he left him behind at the arena is written in all caps."U LEFT WITHOUT ME U DICKEAD!"
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Despite telling himself he should quit, Andrew tends to smoke whenever he's anxious.
- Combat Aestheticist: Robyn, due to her training as a ballerina. Her graceful fighting style helps her be agile against more pragmatic and straightforward opponents and Andrew even comments that she smiles while fighting, enjoying it as her only outlet for performing anything dancelike.
- Cut Himself Shaving: The excuses Robyn initially gives Andrew for her injuries include: an accident in the kitchen, falling down the stairs, and walking into a door. Andrew immediately knows she's lying, but initially mistakes the actual reason for her injuries.
- Dance Battler: Robyn's form of fighting in the ring is noted to be very graceful and dancelike. When she can, Robyn secretly practices ballet and the practice has influenced her fighting style.
- Dirty Cop: The Chrystal Valley police all know that there's an underground fighting ring in their city, but it makes so much money that they don't care about it, and will even watch fights while on the clock.
- Disappeared Dad: Robyn and Lucy's dad just packed up and left one day, abandoning them and their mother and never to be seen again.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Robyn detests any and all forms of pity, and her first thought to anyone caring about her or Lucy is that they pity them, which usually leads to her yelling at the person that she doesn't want anyone's pity.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After the semi-finals fight, Robyn is unable to cope with Tyler's death and has Ana take her to a bar where she gets absolutely wasted.
- Enter Stage Window: Ana's preferred method of entering Robyn's apartment is by climbing up her third-floor balcony and breaking in through the window.
- Exact Words: Before the semifinals fight, Cassandra tells Robyn, "...you will be the one who moves on to the final". Robyn proceeds to lose the fight, noting that Cassandra was wrong. However, Cassandra never said Robyn would win her fight. In fact, her opponent Tyler is later found murdered and Robyn advances to the final fight in his place. So what she said was true.
- Fight Clubbing: The novel revolves around an underground fighting ring, with Robyn being one of the top fighters.
- Finger in the Mail: When Lucy is kidnapped by Swanson and his men, her braided hair is cut off and left in a box for Robyn along with a note that he hopes she changes her mind.
- Flipping the Bird: Robyn's response to Andrew telling her she should eat more is to give him the finger.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Zig-Zagged. Andrew and Robyn's dynamic is unconventional, as technically Robyn is not Andrew's patient, yet he is treating her off the books and he does see her as his patient. Andrew even fights with himself over his feelings being wrong, yet they do fall in love.
- Friendly Rivalry: Robyn and Tyler aren't friends, but Tyler is dissapointed when he finds out their first fight was thrown and they make a promise to have regular rematches after their second (fair) fight.
- From Stray to Pet: Tiny, a small black kitten roaming around Robyn's apartment complex, is taken in by her due to the increasingly harsh weather and eventually becomes her pet.
- The Gambling Addict: Robyn and Lucy's mother was a gambling addict, getting the family so far into debt that Robyn had to contract as a street fighter to pay it off.
- Go Through Me: Robyn puts herself in front of Andrew when the Morrigan's manager goes to punch him in the face. It doesn't stop him though, and she gets injured because of it.
- Hospital Hottie: Robyn constantly notes that Andrew's features are "perfect" while her friends all refer to him as "Dr. Handsome".
- I Have Your Wife: Swanson kidnaps Lucy in order to get Robyn to do what he says, namely, continue fighting for him.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Both Lucy and Ananya warn Andrew that he'd better not hurt Robyn or else they will hurt him.
- Incompatible Orientation: Jonas fell in love with Tyler, another street fighter, but Tyler is heterosexual and only sees Jonas as a very good friend.
- Last-Name Basis: Swanson is only ever addressed using his last name and the only time his first name is mentioned is by Jason during his investigation.
- Manipulative Bastard: Anyone who has been swindled by Swanson knows how far he'll go to manipulate those that he wants under his thumb. He regularly walks hunched over and with a cane to make others underestimate how truly dangerous he is and what he won't do himself he has someone else under his thumb that will do the job for him, whether they like it or not.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's never explained just how Cassandra is able to be so accurate with her predictions. Only her goal is ever revealed, and she leaves the city just as mysteriously as she appeared.Robyn: How do you know all this? You can't really see the future, can you?
Cassandra: I'm good at what I do. - Mistaken for Gay: Andrew mentions that the girls he went to high school with thought he was gay because he would only hang out with them and he would do their hair. When Robyn asks, he tells her he isn't gay.
- The Namesake: "Underground" refers to the underground fighting ring that doesn't show up until halfway through the book.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In Robyn's fight against the Morrigan, Robyn ends up provoked to the extent she jumps on her opponent, sending them to the ground, and punches them until Robyn has to be physically dragged away. The damage she caused ends up majorly disfiguring her opponent's face and knocked them unconscious.
- Obviously Not Fine: Robyn is extremely independent and will refuse help of any kind, but especially medical aid, by telling the person trying to help her that she's fine despite usually having more injuries than anyone could count.
- Odd Name, Normal Nickname:
- Robyn's best friend Ananya, who goes by Ana.
- The black cat's name, "Tiny", is short for "Tiny Little Fucker". It's never explained why Robyn decided to give the cat that name.
- One-Word Title: Underground.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After the second semi-finals fight, Swanson starts acting extremely calm, polite, and even nice to Robyn when all he previously did was berate and beat her. Robyn is immediately wary of his new strange behavior and it turns out he had plans to kidnap her sister in order to keep Robyn in line.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Andrew tries to explain his poor reaction to Robyn calling him weak, even though she makes the caveat he's probably stronger than her, by saying that she's a girl. He realizes his major fuck-up before he can finish the sentence, but so does Robyn.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Robyn just happens to hear the part of Andrew's conversation where he tells Jason he gained her trust. Naturally, she didn't hear the rest of it and jumps to the conclusion that he was using her.
- Out of the Closet, Into the Fire: Upon coming out as lesbian, Ana's parents beat her horribly, including strangling her, which led to her running away. Social Services found her, put her in foster care, and Ana was beaten and abused constantly until she aged out of the system.
- Past Experience Nightmare:
- Robyn has regular nightmares of the day she found her mother dead in their apartment.
- Andrew also has nightmares of the day he lost his mother in a train accident.
- Pro Bono Barter: Robyn insists that she repay Andrew back for the medical care he gives her and he eventually settles on her giving him self-defense lessons.
- Resignations Not Accepted: Robyn tells Swanson that she is going to quit after she wins the tournament and her debt is paid off. Swanson calmly says ok and allows her to leave, then kidnaps her sister to force her to continue working for him and, when that doesn't work, tries to have Robyn killed.
- Self-Surgery: At the beginning of the novel, Robyn's sister Lucy notes that Robyn stitched her own arm up. Her stitches became infected and led to sepsis.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Having only seen her in sweatpants and beaten up, Andrew is floored when he sees Robyn on Christmas in a Little Black Dress.
- Stage Name: Most of the fighters have a stage name when in the ring, although how well-known they are compared to the fighter's actual name varies. Robyn is Valkyrie, Tyler is Griffin, and Drake is Leviathan. Then there are a few whose real names are unknown like Weasel, Bear, and Morrigan.
- Teach Me How To Fight: When Robyn refuses to accept Andrew's help for free, he asks her to teach him self-defense in exchange.
- Trick Dialogue: At the beginning of chapter 5, Robyn is telling Andrew about the tournament coming up and Swanson's hold over her, only for Tiny to interrupt the conversation by jumping off her lap. Shortly after, its revealed she was talking to the cat as a way of practicing for telling Andrew.
- Unstoppable Rage: The Morrigan provokes Robyn in their fight by claiming she would hurt Lucy. This sends Robyn over the edge, and she delivers such a beating she had to be dragged away and restrained so that she didn't kill her. The medical team note that, although she'll live, the Morrigan's face will never be the same.
- Waif Prophet: Cassandra, who mysteriously showed up to Chrystal Valley with the uncanny ability to accurately predict the outcome of fights and is so accurate she can give Robyn tips for her upcoming fights. Naturally, every bookie in the city pays her to increase their betting odds.
- We Can Rule Together: Swanson offers Robyn to become his new right hand when she decides to finally challenge him to get out of the fighting world. It thoroughly confuses her, but eventually Robyn declines his offer.
- We Need a Distraction: Andrew, becoming increasingly worried for Robyn, decides that he needs to get backstage where the fighters are. In order to get past security he asks Jason to cause a distraction, to which Jason punches Drake and starts a Bar Brawl.
- What Does She See in Him?: Robyn doesn't think very highly of her sister's boyfriend, although she doesn't vocalize her dislike to Lucy, she sure thinks about her odd choice in men. She doesn't give Mike the same courtesy; however, and tells him to stop dragging her sister into things."Lucy's boyfriend, Mike, was a political science student who seemed to spend more time starting brawls than studying. His messy brown hair looked like it hadn't seen a comb in a while, and the stubble on his chin was about a day or two from turning into a beard. Robyn had no idea what Lucy saw in him."
- Working Off the Debt: One of Chrystal Valley's most powerful bookies, Richard Swanson, paid off all of Robyn's mother's gambling debts in exchange that Robyn would contract as a fighter under his name until she won back the money.
- Working Out Their Emotions: Robyn either runs or starts throwing punches at a punching bag when she's upset, although she notes she prefers running for handling stress and anger because she can do it for longer.
